This report is originally intended as a submission to ongoing ENSO Reports,
but as usual, I get carried away. Thanks David Duff for keeping me on the
E-mail list.
----------------
Just finished a six-week research cruise onboard the NOAA R/V "David Starr
Jordan" operating in the very shallow waters (mostly less than 100 meters) of
the upper Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) and Colorado River delta and
mouth (mid-Aug to late-Sep) with Tim Gerrodette (cruise leader), Bob Pitman,
Mike Force, et.al. Work was specifically aimed at the very rare and
endangered cetacean (porpoise), "Vaquita" (_Phocoena sinus_). Having never
worked in this part of the Gulf before, I have no comparative experience as
to how the region may have been influenced by the current ENSO event and
analyses of oceanographic data are incomplete. I suspect nothing much
really. If anything, it was much more windy than was expected and as
suggested by the local fishermen. We were expecting mostly calm Beaufort 0-2
sea states which are required for proper study of this very quiet and shy
little porpoise. Up until about mid-September, the almost relentless winds
were humid tropical southeasterlies, 15-25knots, with resulting sea states at
B-4 to B-6. This hampered study efforts but had a cooling effect on the air
temperature keeping it down to a relatively tolerable low-mid 90'sF (31-33C)
while sea surface temperatures hovered around 90F (31C). On land (adjacent
desert areas, NE Baja & NW Sonora, Mexico) daily daytime temperatures
maintained reasonably normal desert levels 105-115F (40-46C) but with heat
"comfort" indices reaching extremes as high as a blood boiling 160F (71C)
(!!??that's "comfort"??!! ...is that even possible???) -- this figure via
local TV received aboard ship from Yuma, Arizona. Typical overnight low
temperatures were often in the humid low to mid-80's (26-30C) which were
warmer than normal.

The Vaquita continue to "exist" but the entire world's population (perhaps
less than 200) appears to be confined within just a small part of a 20X40
nmile "core" area and ALL within sight of "Rocas Consag" off San Felipe, Baja
del Norte California, and mostly in depths of 20-40m. Recovery seems
distressingly bleak and this species could become extinct within the next few
years. Whatever effects El Nino may have on this area and the Vaquita may be
insignificant compared to the more serious implications of local fisheries
interactions and perhaps even more troubling, diminished genetic viability.
A natural extinction as it were. The Vaquita was only first described in
1958, and it wasn't until as recent as 1985 that a physical description was
available. This could be a species (cetacean, no less!) that came and went
in the blink of an eye, and precious few of us ever even got to know it.
Mexico is planning to feature the Vaquita in their exhibit at the next
World's Fair in Portugal.

Our cumulative incidental seabird sightings seemed to indicate nothing really
out of the ordinary relative to El Nino. The upper Gulf of California seems
like an odd place to find the SOUTH POLAR SKUA (typically 3-8 per day --
possibly same birds I suppose), but this species is apparently a regular part
of the summer avifauna here with concentrations as high as 35 birds counted
in a single sweep during a 1993 visit to this area, then associated with
fishing activity (pers.com. Bob Pitman & Mike Force). [WHY has this species
not yet turned up at California's Salton Sea??? ...or has it? "Nora"?? If
the South Polar Skua can cross the vast icy desert of Antarctica to reach the
South Pole at Admundson-Scott Base (the only species of bird ever recorded
there), then a little bit of scalding hot sandy desert shouldn't be such an
impossible barrier].

A few to several dozen Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters were present daily
throughout the period with Sooties all the way up into the delta and along
Sonoran desert beaches. The Sooty Shearwaters certainly appeared to be way
out of their element in these "hot" waters, appearing severely bedraggled in
ragged states of molt, sickly, and oily "slick" as the plumage appeared wet
and soaked and not shedding sea water properly. The Pink-footed's appeared
to be in much better shape than the Sooties and seemed much more at home in
somewhat deeper offshore waters (>40m) as were the majority of Black-vented
Shearwaters.

Otherwise, the characteristic residents of the region [Black-vented
Shearwater, Black and Least Storm Petrel, Red-billed Tropicbird, Brown and
Blue-footed Booby, Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigatebird, Heermann's and
Yellow-footed Gull, and Elegant, and Common Terns] were plentiful, seen
daily, and appeared to be doing well. There were no Craveri's Murrelet
sightings and none were expected. The only Laughing Gull was an immature on
9/23. A panga trip in the channels around Pelican and Montague Islands
inside the mouth of the Rio Colorado on 9/21 noted 200-300 Black Skimmers, a
few Gull-billed Terns, American Oystercatcher, Wilson's Plovers, and numerous
large waders, especially Long-billed Curlews and Marbled Godwits, et.al., and
sneaky "small-sized" Bottle-nosed Dolphins (_Tursiops sp._) that could easily
be mistaken for Vaquita by their slow snap rolling "porpoise-like" behavior
in those incredibly turbid waters, but definitely no Vaquita there.

Rarities to the upper Gulf, though probably not to be unexpected included
Buller's Shearwater (1), Masked Booby (3) [both yellow and orange-billed
forms], Red-footed Booby (1), dark-rumped Leach's (2-3), and Galapagos Storm
Petrel (1). A single Wilson's Storm Petrel pattering, planing, and skipping
along the surface amongst several thousand Black and Least Storm Petrels in
the wake of a fishing boat north of the Midriff Islands, and Audubon's
Shearwater off Guaymas were most notable, and both seen during a refueling
transit run on 9/01.

Numerous and immense spectacular flocks of migrating Black Terns (tens of
thousands!!) and Least Terns (many hundreds to low thousands) were present in
waters off Guaymas on 9/01. During the return transit from Guaymas to San
Felipe, the "Mother of tern flocks" a massive dense feeding frenzy of
25-50,000 Black Terns were seen off Isla San Sebastian at sunset on 9/04
stretching for more than a mile and looked like a black cloud of insects in
the distance!! Sabine's Gull, and all three jaeger species [Parasitic,
Pomarine, and Long-tailed (rare)] were regular in small numbers in the upper
Gulf through the period. Most of these birds were immature and may have
arrived from overland.

There were three Pacific Hurricanes affecting Baja during the study. 40-50
knot pressure gradient SSE winds between "Ignacio" off western Baja and High
Pressure over Texas pushed several hundred Sooty Shearwaters and 2-3
dark-rumped Leach's Storm Petrels into Colorado River delta area on 8/16.
Superstorm (Category 5) "Linda" turned west off Cabo San Lucas, a relief to
everyone and had no effect on the upper Gulf and Vaquita study area.

"Nora" (Category 1) cut across central Baja from the Pacific side and scored
a direct hit on San Felipe and delta area on 9/24-25 (2300-0800hrs). At the
storms height, driving east winds were sustained at 60-80 knots for about
three hours (0500-0800hrs) and 13.2 inches (~335mm) of rain fell. At
0800hrs, the whole thing abruptly stopped dead, the sun came out and the
storm was over. We thought it was the eye, but in fact the storm was indeed
over not realizing that this storm had a clockwise rotation. Substantial
damage was done to the boat harbor and protective breakwater with about 30
pangas busted up and sunk (including our's used for the Vaquita work), some
structural damage and flooding in town, and wide-spread desert flash flooding
caused extensive road damage. Mike Force and I had just disembarked in San
Felipe as "Nora" approached and we ended up stranded there for four days
until rescue arrived to take us and scientific gear to San Diego.
None-the-less, it was an "interesting" adventure watching the ongoing fury
at beach-side from the Las Misiones Resort Hotel where we had a commanding
view of the whole show while hoping that it wouldn't get worse and trying to
stay out of the line of fire from flying debris, glass, and breaking windows.
The worst part of this adventure (for us) was the aftermath with the
swimming pool full of wind-blown debris, the swim-up wet bar remained closed.
Drat! :-)).

There were no seabirds of note in the immediate wake of the storm at San
Felipe other than the offshore regulars having been blown near shore.
However, storm fallout reported by birders in desert birding locales of SE
California and Arizona included a scattering of many of the characteristic
species of the upper Gulf. At least some of these included, Black and Least
Storm Petrels, Black-vented Shearwater, Red-billed Tropicbird, Brown and
Blue-footed Boobies, and Magnificent Frigatebird.

A sub-adult "yellow-billed" Masked Booby observed on 9/23, just ahead of
"Nora" by Mike Force and me in the Upper Gulf east of "Rocas Consag" may be
particularly notable and may have either been a belated lost gift of "Linda",
or was pushed well ahead of "Nora" which had stalled south of Cabo for a few
days, or perhaps was assisted by both. The Masked Booby in the Eastern
Tropical Pacific is undergoing taxonomic revision, the "orange-billed" form
being the dominate form most commonly encountered in relatively near-shore
(within ~600 nmiles) off Mexico, Central, and northern South America. The
"yellow-billed" form tends to disperse west and south and far away all over
the blue-water tropics of the Eastern and Central Pacific, and is most
abundant and widespread worldwide. Anyway, west coast birders will have to
pay attention to those "vagrant" Masked Boobies now and differentiate which
one is which.

I'll be off the central California coast (Monterey area), a joint El Nino
study and search for Sperm Whales, again onboard the NOAA R/V "David Starr
Jordan" from now until the end of October. I'll try to post a summary of
this next venture in early November. A recent report from Gary Friedrichsen
participating in Blue Whale work around California's Channel Islands on the
R/V "Cory Choest" noted a Brown Booby (resting on the ship) and Dark-rumped
Petrel during mid-late September (dates ??).

I can't reply to E-mail queries at this address until November at the
earliest.

Richard Rowlett <Pagodroma at aol.com>
My Shurgard Storage Unit(s) in
Seattle/Bellevue, WA, and San Diego CA, USA